TAIPEI, Taiwan — The principal of a high school in northern Taiwan has resigned following widespread criticism of an event staged by students that featured Nazi-themed costumes and swastika banners.

The Taipei Times reported this week that Cheng Hsiao-ming, principal of Kuang Fu High School in the city of Hsinchu, apologized for the incident as he announced his resignation. Mr. Cheng added that the school plans to show films such as Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful to educate its students about the Holocaust.

Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School Principal Cheng Hsiao-ming reads an apology to the media in Taiwan. (EBC via AP)

The event on Friday drew public attention after images were posted on social media of the students hoisting swastika banners in a parade behind a tank fashioned from cardboard.

Israel's representative office in Taipei condemned the event, calling it "deplorable and shocking."

The German Institute of Taipei, which is Germany's diplomatic presence in Taiwan, also said in a statement that it was horrified by Nazi-themed parade. German law bans the use of Nazi paraphernalia and salutes.

Students holding a Nazi-themed parade in Taiwan.

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(Kuang Fu High School Handout/dpa)

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German tabloid Bild reports that Nazi symbolism is occasionally used in unusual contexts in Southeast Asia. Commercials in the region sometimes depict Hitler and there was reportedly a "Nazi Bar" in Taipei during the 1990s.

In 2014, an Italian restaurant in New Taipei City sold a dish called "Long Live the Nazis." The restaurant owner said that she just wanted to signal the German flare of the dish to customers. The owner said that she was also surprised that the dish name was controversial.

The use of Nazi symbolism appears to be largely due to a lack of historical knowledge among some individuals. Bild reports that the students at Kuang Fu High School seemed unaware that the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of millions of people, andThe Taipei Times lamented that the incident "yet again showed Taiwan's ignorance of international affairs."

The Associated Press was unable to reach the school's administrators by phone for comment Tuesday.